The scent of Chanel hung in the air as Helena Cole sat at her dressing table and swept charcoal powder over the lid of one eye. She sat back to study her reflection in the mirror. Her complexion was pale and flawless, her lips were painted a glossy red, and the dark shadow made her eyes look smokey. She just needed mascara to elongate her lashes and it was perfect.

She had already fastened the straps of the heels she wore and her thin robe covered the lingerie she had bought especially for the occasion. She had liked the way the champagne silk went with her skin and hair.

Opening a drawer she withdrew a velvet box. Carefully she opened it and withdrew the contents. The necklace had been a gift for her twenty-first birthday from her father, at least she had picked it out for her birthday and charged it to his credit card, for her twenty-first her father had been in Japan.

She fastened the clasp around her neck. The necklace was a lace pattern in diamonds, laying heavy on her collar bones and drawing attention to the shadow between her breasts. Rings went on her perfectly manicured fingers and chandelier earrings hung from her earlobes. When she was finally satisfied she rose form the cushioned seat and let the rob fall form her shoulders.

Helena checked the time over her shoulder. She was right on time, she hoped he would be too. It had taken weeks of surveillance and thousands of her father's dollars but she was certain she had learned his schedule correctly.Opening the french doors that led on to her privet balcony she felt her skin ripple at the chill but ignored it. She walked across the balcony to the railing, a chair already positioned below it, and stepped up on to the railing.

Carefully, very carefully, she walked the railing and stepped up on to the ledge that ran along her bedroom window. Lifting her arms to steady herself on the ledge above, she walked with deliberate steps until she stood next next to a pillar. She scanned the night sky. New York was beautiful at night, the thousands of lights shone like stars- of course you couldn't see the real stars. No sign of him, but he would come soon. She took a breath and called tears to her eyes.

Neither Michael nor Titan knew a thing about Chanel or charcoal powder, at least not beyond the fact that they could make appropriate gifts for a woman and that they generally made them more appealing. What Michael knew or thought did not matter though because it was only Titan patrolling the rooftops, approaching the first milestone on his voyage across the city and a voyage was what it was. It was really the only way to describe it; his powerful muscles allowing him to move at tremendous speeds across the rooftops, occasionally making a jump across a wide gap or a tall building, leaping tall buildings in a single bound was certainly no mean feat for him.

Titan's trenchcoat fluttered behind him, more elegantly and dazzlingly than any cape. Capes were so overrated, long, cumbersome, definitely a hazard and out of style. Michael wasn't one to care too much about style but he liked to look good. Beneath the coat which reached to his ankles, he wore a simple black and red costume, the blue adorning his the tops of his fingers and down his hands, following the thin lines of the bone, the edges of his eyes lined in blue and his elbows and shoulders and knees all held the distinctive blue colour. Of course his costume was perfectly practical, it had been adjusted from an old military combat suit into a costume; it afforded mobility, had enough pockets and the likes to hold anything he needed and he had even managed to include some protection in the form of armour sewn into the suit. To top it all off he had a pair of combat boots, complete with steel toe-caps.

It was the dead of night, not that it meant a damn thing in this city. The city that never sleeps was right, as soon as one sun went down another showed itself in the form of millions of light bulbs. The people never slept… and neither did Titan. The masked man may have disappeared, the bane of the underworld of New York city may have left them briefly but he had returned! Now all he had to do was re-establish himself as the number one force in Manhattan.

Titan stopped on a building, reaching about three-quarters of the way up the skyscraper, in which Helena was waiting for him. Titan stopped on the building and stated briefly out over the city and across to the harbour, which was easily visible from that point. He stopped there as he always did, to observe the scenery and have a cigar, he might have cared about the effects of cigars more had he not been able to go home and simply slit his wrists, repairing all damage done to his lungs as soon as he resurrected. He turned to look at the impressive building behind him, just about to withdraw a Cuban cigar from deep within the pockets of his costume.

He paused as he looked up; something was amiss. There was a figure standing on the edge of her balcony! What was she doing? Was she drunk? Whatever the case Michael stepped forward and stared up at her, raising his hands he spoke calmly to her. "Miss, excuse me, are you alright?" He said, adopting his best, 'everything's alright, I know exactly what I'm doing voice'. It was patronising, it deliberately placed the person speaking like that in a position above the person they were talking to but the police and all the supers used that voice whenever they wanted control of a relatively calm situation. It was safe.

Helena spun around with a gasp. If she had less self control she might have broke into a grin. She had known he would come, she had known it! But she kept her mask up, that of a scared and confused girl on the on the edge (quite literally) of reason.

"Stay back." She demanded and and took half a step away from him.

She looked nothing like the beauty who had so carefully prepared herself before her mirror. Her pretty face was tear stained, tears still clung crystal like in her lashes, and her long blond hair had been matted and snarled by the wind that tugged at it.

She flexed her fingers, feeling them numb in the cold, and looked at him. It was the first time she had seen this particular hero in anything but a photograph. The professional she had hired had taken several candid shots as well as provided her with a minimal biography of the elusive Titan. But she reveal none of this.

"Who.. who are you?" She asked, adding a tremble to her voice. She turned her eyes back to the city and leaned forward just and inch to peer at the long drop down.

Looking at the girl Titan couldn't figure out for love nor money (which he guessed this girl probably had a deficiency and an over-abundance of in that order) why she would be standing on the ledge of her balcony, presumably contemplating jumping. As she told him to stay back he switched his stance from a man who was simply trying to reason with this girl to a man who had control of the situation, braced, almost as if preparing for a fight; he set his legs shoulder width apart, rolled his shoulders back, pushing his chest out and set his arms back a little way and clenched his fists. Raising a hand in a halt gesture he spoke in a suddenly commanding voice, "Stop right there! Take a step back!" He called up to her, moving to stand on the edge of the building below her. "I am Titan, I'm a hero but I've… well I've been away for a while. Anyway, like I said, take a step back, I'm going to come up there and we're going to talk, ok? Don't even think of taking a step forwards! I'm here now, it's not going to work!" He said, lowering his hand and preparing to jump up to her balcony, waiting for her to step back.

Helena was trembling, and it wasn't even an act, it was cold up here on the ledge. Her bare skin was prickled in goosebumps and her fingers and the tip of her nose were numb. She stayed silent for a moment, to make it look like she was considering. Finally she nodded jerkily.

"Alright." She whispered.

Her plan was working perfectly! She had his attention and now that she did she had no intention of ever letting it go. It was good to see months of hard work paying off. Later she would reward herself but for now she still had some playing to do.

She shuffled back, giving him room to jump up. She didn't want to be close enough that he could reach out and grab her, there was still another scene of her little drama.Her arms were stretched above her, steadying herself on the ledge above. she watched side long as he leaped up to the same ledge she balanced on.

"I... I've never seen one of you up close." She said softly, letting her eyes move over him, from his boots to his helmet. "Heroes, I mean." She turned her eyes back to the city and forced tears to overflow from her lashes.